Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) went on Fox News Monday night and named Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in Michigan's U.S. Senate race, as part of what he described as a coordinated cultural assault by progressive candidates across the country.
"They want to change the very DNA of what it means to be American," Scott told host Sean Hannity. "They're coming for our culture, Sean, and that is what makes them dangerous." Scott also named Troy Jackson of Maine in the same breath, listing both as examples of what he called a Democratic Socialist takeover of the party.
Scott framed the November midterms as the most consequential of his lifetime, describing the contest as a direct clash between communists and socialists and what makes America great. President Trump has used similar language publicly, calling progressive primary winners including El-Sayed a threat to the country and labeling them communists.
El-Sayed appeared the same evening on Fox News in a separate interview with host Jesse Watters. The two clashed repeatedly as Watters pressed him on transgender athletes and gender-affirming care, while El-Sayed redirected toward healthcare costs, gas prices, immigration and what he described as a war the current administration pulled the country into.
El-Sayed asked Watters twice to let him finish answering. Near the end of the interview he turned the tables: "Can I just tell you — you know what you didn't ask me about? We got a president of the United States who cares more about the drapes in a ballroom that shouldn't be built than he cares about the war he just got us into, or that he cares about the affordability crisis."
El-Sayed won his primary earlier this month by a narrow margin, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) to advance to November. His opponent is former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the Republican nominee.
A survey released by Susquehanna Polling Research shows El-Sayed ahead of Rogers 46 to 39 among likely voters. The poll found El-Sayed holds an advantage specifically with voters who name the economy as their top concern, a notable finding given that Republicans have leaned on economic messaging nationally. El-Sayed's backing from antiestablishment Democrats is cited as a driver of that edge.
Both candidates carry negative ratings with most Michigan voters. Forty-five percent of respondents hold an unfavorable view of El-Sayed. Thirty-seven percent view Rogers unfavorably. Neither candidate enters the fall with a majority of voters viewing them positively.
The Michigan race fits a pattern Republicans have worked to define nationally. Trump and congressional allies have highlighted primary victories by progressive and democratic-socialist candidates in New York, Ohio and Florida as evidence of a leftward shift in the Democratic Party. Scott's comments Monday extended that frame to the Senate map.
El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health director, ran a 2018 gubernatorial campaign in Michigan before losing the Democratic primary. His second statewide run ended differently, clearing the primary field this cycle to set up what Susquehanna's numbers currently show as a seven-point general election lead.
